This blog is being kept as a memorial to Fr. John Michael Payne, OCD, who was a Friar of the Discalced Carmelite Province of St. Therese in the United States and who wrote the posts on this blog. No further items will be posted on this blog.

~Discalced Carmelite FriarsProvince of St. Therrese

Simple and sometimes literal

“It’s like Clinton asking what is is!” That was my response to Raphael and Sam Anthony’s tacit agreement that I was wrong about scripture scholars making too big of a thing about the significance of Jesus’ “I AM.” Raphael, our senior community member and scholar, explained that the scholars have divided the “I am” statements of Jesus into two categories: the first is without qualifier, and the second followed by an object (like “I am the shepherd,” or “I am the bread of life.”) Fine for the scholars; I commend them. But please don’t make such a big fuss about adjectives and nouns and qualifiers that we lose the simple & sometimes literal meaning of Jesus’ words.